Snapshots of modern mathematics

Snapshots are short, easy to understand articles on recent topics of mathematical research. They explain mathematical problems and ideas in an accessible and understandable way, and provide exciting insights into current topics of the mathematical community for everyone who is interested in modern mathematics.

The snapshots are all written by real experts in their fields: At the Mathematisches Forschungsinstitut Oberwolfach, every week 50 to 60 experts from all over the world work together on current challenges in the field of Mathematics. They introduce new results, discuss different approaches and develop new ideas. After each symposium, the institute asks selected participants to explain one aspect of their research in a comprehensible language to a general audience in a few pages. A team of young mathematicians revise the articles in close collaboration with the authors and assists them in communicating complicated matters to a broad audience. Together they prepare an edited version for publication.

Find all published snapshots at the IMAGINARY texts section!So far, there are 23 Snapshots available in English and German. More are to come. Some of the English articles are already being translated into other languages. You can filter by mathematical field and/or connections to other fields, as well as authors.

The snapshot project is designed to promote the understanding and appreciation of modern mathematics and mathematical research in the general public world-wide. As part of the project “Oberwolfach meets IMAGINARY”, it is funded by the Klaus Tschira Stiftung.

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The image “Zitrus”, an algebraic surface by Herwig Hauser won a prize among the best 10 visualizations in the competition “Visions and Images of Fascination: Humanities and Sciences Visualised“ organized by Die Junge Akademie of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities and the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, the Council of Young Scientists of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS...Read more

We proudly present the schoolbook “Problems for children from 5 to 15” by V. I. Arnold in our Background Material Section. The English translation is brand new and we are happy to be able to offer this unique booklet under a creative commons license.

Maths is beautiful! On June 6th at 11 am, two new interactive stations will be presented at the EXPERIMINTA ScienceCenter in Frankfurt, Germany. At the opening Prof. Oldenburg, Goethe-Universität in Frankfurt and Dr. Matt, Mathematischen Forschungsinstitut Oberwolfach will be present. The two stations are accompanied by a gallery of beautiful...Read more

Today the sixth Russian IMAGINARY exhibition opens its doors in Tomsk, Western Siberia. It is coordinate and organized by the German Embassy in Moscow in collaboration with the Polytechnical University of Tomsk. It will be open for the public from the 21st of May until the 3rd of June 2013.

In August 2013, the 3rd regional school of natural sciences “Laboratory Z” for gifted children (grades 6-8), will take place in famous Akademgorodok of Novosibirsk, Russia.

The goal of the summer school “Laboratory Z” is interest, immersion and expansion of students’ knowledge in subjects of mathematical, natural sciences (physics, chemistry) and technical (robot technology) areas. However, in the summer school there are no classes in...Read more